Not a day goes by that we don’t see, hear or read about a violent or deadly tragedy involving someone with an untreated mental illness. Although the headlines generally report these events when they have been caused by the person with the illness, the evidence shows that these people are far more likely to be the victim of the violence than the perpetrator.

Sometimes the mental illness has already been diagnosed. However, too often such tragedies involve those already diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or depression but who, for some reason, remained untreated thereby placing themselves and others at substantial risk.

Consider for a moment the frightening statistics that demonstrate the extent to which individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness are not receiving the treatment and medications that can help them lead productive, incident free lives. More than 8 million adults — 3.3 percent of the U.S. population — have been diagnosed with schizophrenic or bipolar disorders. Yet half of those with bipolar and 40 percent of those with schizophrenia disorders, 4 million adults, remain untreated including 169,000 homeless and 383,000 inmates in jails and prisons.

What has brought about this unacceptable situation? One significant factor is a federally mandated Medicaid reimbursement policy that forbids residential psychiatric facilities with more than 16 beds from being federally reimbursed for providing lifesaving medical care to people between the ages of 22 and 64 with severe mental illness or addictions.

This Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion is in fact a relic of the failed movement over the past 50 years to deinstitutionalize psychiatric care, which has led in New Jersey, as in many states, to a shortage of psychiatric treatment beds that has reached crisis proportions. Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital is significantly overcrowded, fostering severely dangerous conditions for patients and staff alike. Not surprisingly, contributing to this situation was the unfortunate decision in 2012 to close down Hagedorn Gero-Psychiatric Hospital, which itself was financially motivated to a large degree by the IMD exclusion.

Currently, there is a significant effort being undertaken by leading legislators and politicians from both parties to begin repairing our broken system by removing the IMD exclusion from federal regulations. This would allow appropriate federal funding and reimbursement to all psychiatric treatment facilities regardless of the number of their beds.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) described the IMD exclusion as “a policy that makes it extremely difficult for states to provide inpatient care to those with mental illness and substance abuse disorders.” And former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, called it “old fashioned, antiquated and ridiculous.” Further, the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee, a federal panel of experts and administration officials, also strongly recommend repealing the IMD exclusion.

Since 1949, May has been designated Mental Health Awareness Month. It presents the ideal opportunity to encourage the political forces in our state to take a meaningful step to repair this broken system. Psychiatric hospitalization is the treatment option of last resort for individuals with acute, chronic severe mental illness who absolutely require intense psychiatric care.

When those people suffering from psychiatric breaks who are poor and uninsured become violent and dangerous to themselves and others, publicly supported state residential facilities are where they need to be admitted for treatment. Without that support and access to hospital care, they will remain untreated and continue to overwhelm their families and the general public. For that reason, we must contact our state and federal legislators and encourage them to remove the IMD exclusion and maximize treatment for those with the most serious mental illnesses.

Joseph Gervasi, of Belmar, is a member of the Board of Directors of The Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris.